The problem of the good IPA

So I'm enjoying my first Celebration of the season. It's good. But in the last 24 hours I've also had an Alpine Duet and Bear Republic Racer X and Dry Creek Homegrown. I know this is old news, but lupulin threshold shift is real. Totally solid, even world-class IPAs taste mediocre after having truly great ones. Basically, I'm wondering if super-hoppy beer that isn't great is worth drinking. I'll take my answers offline.

I was mentioning to my butler just the other day how only the finest beluga caviar and white truffles will do.
And yet only five years ago, I was satisfied with plain old goose liver pâté and Brie.
It was precisely at that moment when he slapped me in the face.

Much akin to drinking a regular founders breakfast stout the night after drinking Dark Lord, BCBS and KBS, simply tastes like water, the taste buds need some time to resume normalcy and appreciate session beers.

I was mentioning to my butler just the other day how only the finest beluga caviar and white truffles will do.
And yet only five years ago, I was satisfied with plain old goose liver pâté and Brie.
It was precisely then that he slapped me in the face.

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Your butler needs to chill and beer bong some Apple Brandy BA Hunahpu/2008 Blåbaer mix.
I find that's simply the only way to calm down an uppity butler.

Also, can we retire the word "balance" from IPA discussions? People bandy it around like it's objective, but one man's balanced IPA is another man's hop bomb, and yet another man's malt-bomb. Saying something is "balanced" is even more subjective than saying that it's "good" and carries even less information. It's useless.

On topic, yup, that'll happen. And that's why I've basically stopped drinking IPAs except Pliny, or Alpine when I can get it. There's just no point in anything else.

IMO the key to a good IPA is as much hop flavor as you can pack into it. Fuck malt, balance and anything else that gets in the way of that.

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then this thread is not for you lol. no "world-class" ipa's are going to rip your face off with hop, that's not what the style is. that's an american/canadian ( particualrly northwest ) variation of an ipa.

i'm so sick of beer people being so fucking obsessed with hop. don't get me wrong i'm not opposed to it whatsoever, but it's getting so closed minded. there seems to be a huge microbrewery arms race to who can make the hoppiest ipa, and alot of "this is hoppier than that" arguements...

also "fuck malt" is a really blasphamous thing to say on beeradvocate...

So I'm enjoying my first Celebration of the season. It's good. But in the last 24 hours I've also had an Alpine Duet and Bear Republic Racer X and Dry Creek Homegrown. I know this is old news, but lupulin threshold shift is real. Totally solid, even world-class IPAs taste mediocre after having truly great ones. Basically, I'm wondering if super-hoppy beer that isn't great is worth drinking. I'll take my answers offline.

Click to expand...

The one time I had a Racer X at the brewpub in Headsburg, the Racer 5 it was followed with tasted like water. Racer X is a DIPA last time I checked. Went on to Santa Rosa to drink Pliny the Elder and that was just fine.

I was mentioning to my butler just the other day how only the finest beluga caviar and white truffles will do.
And yet only five years ago, I was satisfied with plain old goose liver pâté and Brie.
It was precisely at that moment when he slapped me in the face.

Click to expand...

Your sense of humor lately is becoming a thing of beauty.
Play on player!

then this thread is not for you lol. no "world-class" ipa's are going to rip your face off with hop, that's not what the style is. that's an american/canadian ( particualrly northwest ) variation of an ipa.

i'm so sick of beer people being so fucking obsessed with hop. don't get me wrong i'm not opposed to it whatsoever, but it's getting so closed minded. there seems to be a huge microbrewery arms race to who can make the hoppiest ipa, and alot of "this is hoppier than that" arguements...

also "fuck malt" is a really blasphamous thing to say on beeradvocate...

Celebration to me is a great bar beer.
All the local bad beers bars around my area get it and it is usually the best thing on tap. Shit, it may be the best thing on at all the good beer bars with all the local love crap going on in my bad local beer infested area.
I never buy sixes but I drink alot of it when out with friends

PS - I'm Drinking an Arctic Panzer Wolf right now and thanks to this thread it is no longer hoppy enough - Drain pour!

first thing that comes to mind, why does a "good" ipa have to be "super-hoppy"?
imo balance is the key to a good ipa. every good beer needs a solid malt foundation first and foremost.

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Here here. I believe what makes an exceptional IPA is an extremely balanced one like Firestone Walkers Union Jack I also know breweries that over hop all their beers to account for off flavors. Over hoppy is not necessarily the mark of a "exceptional" brew even when it is an IPA.

Great point overall: when you have the best constantly, all you crave is world class beer.

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It's the same when you have great distribution but not great local beer. I just can't buy 95% of local stuff, at all, because it's just not in the same league as the best of each style that is imported from regional & international breweries.

I mostly notice this when I go hopless with some wheat or ale or something less hoppy, then want after a good IPA to follow. I'll take any at that point. I like all manner of IPA's I guess...liking all the different interactions, and don't ever get 'stuck' on one great one, because there are so many to try. The biggest challenge with the IPA's to me seems to be freshness, and that's what we really might be talking about. And this, freshness I mean, is where a seasonal like Celebration gets a good lift in likability and might turn someone off to some "run of the mill IPA," because when it (a good one) comes out each year, it's all new and fresh and lovely, and it doesn't sit around for weeks and months and gets bought, and doesn't get mixed with the other inventory where it gathers dust which might betray something: that it's really old, and limp and lifeless.

Really, my biggest quibble about IPA...they can't sit around long. The good ones it seems to me, are the ones the move.

then this thread is not for you lol. no "world-class" ipa's are going to rip your face off with hop, that's not what the style is. that's an american/canadian ( particualrly northwest ) variation of an ipa.

i'm so sick of beer people being so fucking obsessed with hop. don't get me wrong i'm not opposed to it whatsoever, but it's getting so closed minded. there seems to be a huge microbrewery arms race to who can make the hoppiest ipa, and alot of "this is hoppier than that" arguements...

also "fuck malt" is a really blasphamous thing to say on beeradvocate...

then this thread is not for you lol. no "world-class" ipa's are going to rip your face off with hop, that's not what the style is. that's an american/canadian ( particualrly northwest ) variation of an ipa.

i'm so sick of beer people being so fucking obsessed with hop. don't get me wrong i'm not opposed to it whatsoever, but it's getting so closed minded. there seems to be a huge microbrewery arms race to who can make the hoppiest ipa, and alot of "this is hoppier than that" arguements...

also "fuck malt" is a really blasphamous thing to say on beeradvocate...

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TBH i don't see why you should be so bothered by what others like. it's not as though there's a shortage of other styles. and saying that an IPA can't be world class unless it's balanced is hugely a matter of opinion. sure i appreciate a balanced IPA on occasion, whereas other times i want it west coast style, hoppy as hell - and have had plenty of what i would consider to be world class IPAs that would fall into the latter category.

then this thread is not for you lol. no "world-class" ipa's are going to rip your face off with hop, that's not what the style is. that's an american/canadian ( particualrly northwest ) variation of an ipa.

i'm so sick of beer people being so fucking obsessed with hop. don't get me wrong i'm not opposed to it whatsoever, but it's getting so closed minded. there seems to be a huge microbrewery arms race to who can make the hoppiest ipa, and alot of "this is hoppier than that" arguements...

also "fuck malt" is a really blasphamous thing to say on beeradvocate...

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I respectfully disagree. My favorite IPA/DIPAs (and I'm not alone in these beers); Heady, KR Citra, Hill Farmstead anything...they are hop forward BIG TIME, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know if its an arms race, or maybe a lot of people obsess over these because they are just so damn good! I've yeet to drink any of the above mentioned brews and think "That was swell, but it would be just nifty if there was more malt balance" Hell no! Of course this is my two pennies worth, but I KNOW I'm not alone....and we aren't drinking them to be like the cool kids, we just love the 'em!

This is a problem I run into at tastings. When you start having stellar world renowned beers being poured, even the very good beers start falling into the "just ok" category, whereas if you tried it independently you'd probably love it.

I drink Two Hearted all the time, a really good IPA, I do not seem to have a problem.

It is a balanced beer, yes balance is an appropriate term for an IPA its not my fault others do not understand words and use them incorrectly. Lupulin Threshold shift is very real but you may be amazed what a little variety or subtlety will do for you.

I drink Two Hearted all the time, a really good IPA, I do not seem to have a problem.

It is a balanced beer, yes balance is an appropriate term for an IPA its not my fault others do not understand words and use them incorrectly. Lupulin Threshold shift is very real but you may be amazed what a little variety or subtlety will do for you.

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As a Michigan native, my only problem is that Two Hearted isn't distributed to the Bay Area.

IMO the key to a good IPA is as much hop flavor as you can pack into it. Fuck malt, balance and anything else that gets in the way of that.

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To each his own, but this is kind of how I roll with my IPAs too. Balance is good, but I don't want malts to jump in and take over the hops. Perfect example for me was Alpine Super IPA. I was so excited to try this beer, I love Alpine, but as soon as I get a glimpse of Alpine's hoppy goodness, New Belgium biscuity malts stepped up and took center stage. Not for me.

It's easy to get burned out om very good beers. For lunch I had a 2H Ale, and a Founders Breakfast Stout. Eh. I come home pop open a Head Hunter and I'm good, might as well drank Miller lite for lunch. Variety is the answer, and a different in style, but hop burnout is very real.

I was mentioning to my butler just the other day how only the finest beluga caviar and white truffles will do.
And yet only five years ago, I was satisfied with plain old goose liver pâté and Brie.
It was precisely at that moment when he slapped me in the face.

Click to expand...

Wow. If the help did that to me it would lead to some serious public flogging.